The Lovely Bones Summary

The narrator of The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold was a young girl named Susie Salmon. At the age of 14 she was raped and murdered by her neighbor. It happened on a cold snowy afternoon. After school, Susie took a shortcut through a cornfield to her Pennsylvanian home. On that day, Mr. Harvey, (a face she knew but still a stranger) was in the cornfield. He tells Susie about an underground hide-out that he had built, and it really struck Susie’s curiosity. Mr. Harvey lures Susie into the hole, and Susie quickly realizes that that was a big mistake. Mr. Harvey then raped and murdered her. The next thing she knows, Susie was in heaven. Susie realizes it was sort of a personal heaven, and everyone got one when they pass.

Not long after, Susie’s parents; Abigail and Jack Salmon get a call from Len Fenerman, the detective in charge of Susie’s case. He explains to them that they had found one of Susie’s elbow bones. The next morning Jack tells Susie’s younger 13 year old sister, Lindsey, what was found. Lindsey’s reaction was to just throw up. Later that day, even though the crime scene had practically been ruined, the police and detectives go out and start digging up the cornfield. Susie’s school books, class notes, and other personal belongings were found. Including a love letter from the first, and only boy she ever loved, Ray Signh. Ray had slipped the note into her books the day before she died, but Susie never got the chance to read it. The rumors at school, of course, were flying around like crazy. Continuing watching from heaven, Susie becomes more and more frustrated as her murderer, Mr. Harvey, goes on with his life like nothing had ever happened. Several days later, Len Fenerman tells that Salmon family that Susie is more tha...

... middle of paper ...

... the information that she needed and got out just in time.

Later, while Mr. Harvey was getting talked to about Lindsey’s break in, Abigail Salmon was having an affair with Len Fenerman. The following summer, Abigail leaves her home and family, cutting off all ties. That December, Mr. Harvey had been gone for over a year, nowhere to be found. Susie feels sorry for Len because he didn’t solve the case. Many years later Jack suffers from a heart-attack which led him to a stay in the hospital. This major event brings Abigail back to her family. Then, while Jack was still in the hospital, Abigail falls back in love with him. At the end of the novel we learn that Susie moved on to a new different heaven called “wide wide heaven”. She was finally at peace. As for Mr. Harvey, before he gets to kill again, he got killed by a falling icicle. That is the end of the novel.